Shortly after Kentucky schools closed for summer break, teachers began preparing for the next school year.

The Read to Succeed conference drew about 1600 educators from across the state.

The event, hosted by the Kentucky Department of Education, is focused on improving student literacy and empowering teachers.

More about this in tonight's Education Matters segment.

Literacy matters.

You know, we know that the more and the better that a student can read, the better outcomes that they are going to have in life.

It's a really an economic issue, right?

The sooner that they can enter the workforce, the more that they can contribute as productive citizens.

The race to Succeed summer conference really came about with the funding from Race to Succeed bill that was passed in 2022, and the purpose of that is to really build, educators and administrators knowledge around the signs of reading, literacy, best practices, how to implement high quality instructional resources, and all things, evidence based literacy.

What it boils down to is that there is a process in which kids need to learn to read.

It doesn't happen from listening.

You know, for a long time, I think people thought that, learning to read was very much like learning to talk.

And we learned to talk.

Research tells us by listening to others and talk.

But that's not how our brain works when it comes to learning to read.

We have to be able to decode words and sound them out in order to understand them.

So a complicated process, but there is a way and there's a right way to teach kids to read.

And Kentucky educators and administrators are really leaning into that and learning that process.

And we're seeing results from that.

One of my favorite sessions that we do are called voices from the field, and that is where district administrators, leaders, principals, teachers come in and they talk about their experience in a variety of things.

Maybe that is implementing a new high quality instructional resource.

Maybe that is developing systems and structures that allow for educators to implement resources and best practices in literacy.

But they really talk about their journeys as a district.

And other districts love to hear from each other.

And, you know, they face the same challenges.

They walk the same walk.

So getting that same perspective from other districts, I think really helps as.

A post-secondary person at Murray State.

It gives me the opportunity to plug in to what the schools are doing.

So I teach literacy courses at Murray State.

So to be able to hear what's going on in the field, to ask teachers what what are the questions that that you have about what we're doing to prepare?

How can we do better?

How can we help facilitate literacy across Kentucky?

I think everybody working on the same page is the way that we can really move the needle on literacy in our state.

We offer a ton of resources.

I kind of practical strategies and just overall knowledge about this whole science of reading movement that's happening.

That they can go back in and put into implement into their classroom immediately.

And that is what I'm hearing.

Teachers come out and say, I thought that's the way that that was supposed to be.

And and they're just kind of backed up in that information.

And recharged.

It's summertime for teachers.

And we still have 1600 here.

You know, wanting to learn.

I really love that there's so many teachers here.

It makes you feel just so excited for the future of our state.

And it just reminds us how passionate teachers are and how they want to do what's best for their students.

I want them to feel energized.

I want them to feel optimistic, and I want them to feel the hope that we can continue to make a difference.

And we continue to as we continue to address the learning challenges that may exist for students.

According to the 2026 Education Scorecard, Kentucky ranks fifth in the nation for recovery in reading scores.